


A smidge of fate and a bucket of luck

by Anonymous



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-07 21:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20461925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: "Continuing her social media rounds she opens up instagram and instantly feels her heart beating rapidly when she sees Scott Moir has updated his instastory."





	A smidge of fate and a bucket of luck

**Author's Note:**

> Hello this is my first fic ever. Wow I never knew posting something on ao3 would be *this* complicated.

There's only two weeks left before winter break begins and Tessa is beyond exhausted. She woke up way past lunch on this lovely Saturday and after heating and eating last night's left over burrito, she dragged herself back to her warm bed and continued to stare at the upper bunk. Her mind swirling with thoughts of how this is her last school year, it's a weekend and she's holed up in her dorm doing absolutely nothing while her roommate is off to another early Christmas party. 

Tessa doesn't understand how Andrea can afford to lose another day of rest or study when they are literally in the middle of hellweek but maybe she's just the one with a boring college life, she thinks to herself bitterly. Before the self-pity party starts, she takes her phone and tries to ignore the pang when facebook memories reminds her of the spontaneous trip she took with her best friends, Kaitlyn and Midori, a year ago. For this semester, she's been so focused on balancing her studies, projects with professors, and self-health, unfortunately her social life was sacrificed for her sanity. She feels a little bit ashamed that she can't tell you what Midori or Kaitlyn is doing in their lives right now but pushes the bad feelings down, raises their group chat from the dead and types a simple "_Hey girls! Miss you <3_".

Continuing her social media rounds she opens up instagram and instantly feels her heart beating rapidly when she sees Scott Moir has updated his instastory.

Scott was her classmate since elementary, all through high school, until college although he took a sport science course meanwhile Tessa pursued psychology. Scott always saw her as a competition in elementary school, each year ending with Scott second to Tessa in the class.

Their moms are friendly but since Scott has always resented her for always beating her, they were never close until high school. As the smartest kids in their batch, they got accepted together in a special high school in Waterloo. Moving away to a new environment where all the other kids seem to be better and bigger eventually brought them closer together. One day they just chose to eat together in the cafeteria to talk about how much they miss their families and they were inseparable since.

Of course this was still high school and hanging out with someone of the opposite sex lead to merciless teasing from their classmates and even judging stares from the teachers. On some days, the couple jokes made things awkward for them (_"She's like my sister" "He looks like he's 12!"_) so maybe they made more effort to find new friends and that's how Scott found his hockey bros and Tessa stuck to Midori and Kaitlyn.

Tessa and Scott swore they didn't know what each others' choice was but they still ended up in the some college in Montreal. The university is a little big so they don't really see each other that much. But every time one of their moms visit, it's already an unspoken rule that the other must drop everything to join dinner with them.

Tessa tried her best to live out her college experience as she learned from watching tv as a kid. She attended parties (she learns that she always vomits after the 4th glass of alchohol), flirted with frat boys (only those with unruly brown hair and deep hazel eyes, ignoring the tiny voice in her head explaining where her "type" roots from), and even joined organizations (Save H20 before H2late). But she still considers her best days were those spent with Scott when they take long road trips out of town because he believes that the true college experience cannot be found within the university.

"T, Canada is more than old buildings, and books, and kids who believe "living" is having a beer on one hand and a fling on the other. We are young adults who are still in that sweet spot of being (heavy) responsibility-free and having time to do what ever the fuck we want. And this freedom is best spent exploring the world! After graduation we'll be so caught up in work and bills and being a real adult we'll be trapped in the rat race before we know it."

It took a few more convincing from Scott (_"I'll let you choose the car music for the first hour" "Half-day." "Three hours. Final offer". "Deal."_) but eventually whenever she has free time, which is basically once a month, Tessa tags along to one of Scott's random trips where she met his other travel buddy, Patrick Chan. She's a bit surprised that even if they spent way less time together compared to high school, their bond feels stronger than ever.

Since high school, Scott has matured a lot in terms of personality and looks. He went from a scrawny kid to a man with a chiseled jaw, fluffy hair (sometimes she wishes she can run her hands through them), and a toned body (she punched his abs once after he "accidentally" outed her crush on their English professor in front of him and maybe groped his bicep when she was drunk and touchy that one time). When they're driving together, she can't help it if her eyes wander from the rows of trees in front and end up on his sharp profile. Everytime he catches her staring at him from the passenger seat, he'll give her that dopey smile and sometimes a wink, and she'll feel the need to be busy, suddenly looking for snacks to munch on. She swears to God she got fat from these road trips.

It was Tessa that convinced Scott to create an Instagram account in the first place, saying,

"Come on. What's the point of all this traveling when we can't rub it in other people's faces?"

They were on the way to Mount Royal, to take a short nature walk and release all the tension from midterms, and Scott risked taking his eyes off the road for a second and one look at Tessa's serious face got him laughing out loud. She rolled her eyes at him,

"Don't you want to share these beautiful pictures and memories with other people?" 

He hummed and pondered for a second. "But the only person I want to share them is already with me", he turned his head towards Tessa and gave her his signature charming smile and raised eyebrow.

While Tessa fumbled for a reply, she pushed his cheek back towards the road to prevent him from seeing the blush creeping up on her face.

This has been a slightly new development in their friendship. He's always been a sweet talker since high school but recently his words feel laced with a feeling Tessa is choosing to name as _confusing_. Being touchy wasn't a big deal before but now when he hugs and kisses her cheek, he makes her feel so missed since the last month they've seen each other.

Tessa just thinks it isn't fair that she gets easily flustered by all the small gentleman-y things he does and he just continues to tease her like this without knowing how much it makes her insides somersault. The charged silence in the car was broken by Chiddy in the backseat grumbling "Guys, if you're going to continue to be gross just drop me off at the nearest bus station please" without looking up from his nintendo switch. Tessa and Scott just broke down laughing, Scott then turned up the radio and the ride continued with loud singing.

She's aware that this silly little crush on Scott has gone on for too long but she can't just exactly tell him. During one drinking session in their second year, he admitted to having a crush on her and she freaked out. When her friends looked at her next expectingly and asked who her crush was, she tried to hide her giddiness behind a pokerface and nonchalantly answered "Professor Elon from Lit100 is hot".

Their mutual college friends were on the brink of locking them up together in a room and she was not going to give them the satisfaction of knowing they guessed their feelings right. More importantly, she didn't want a repeat of their high school drift from so many years ago. While her friends tried to grill her for lying, Tessa just downed one more bottle of cheap beer before excusing herself and puking in the bathroom a few minutes later. 

From the outside it looked like Scott's confession didn't change anything in their relationship, they didn't really treat each other differently. That's why she can't tell him now.

_Was it just a small crush? Did he even mean it? Did she miss her chance?_

But since then, Tessa has been internally fighting to psychoanalyze all the nice things he does and the urge to tell him she likes him too. Like when Scott wordlessly just draped his jacket over her shoulders during a particularly cold park stroll, when he texted her "Good luck!" before her last major exam, and when he came over to her dorm immediately at 11pm with a hug and hidden vodka in a water bottle after learning Darren broke up with her. 

Following Tessa's advice, Scott did open an instagram account a week later but aside from one landscape picture from each of their trips, he barely posts anything. Except for his profile picture, his page doesn't even contain a single photo of Scott. But she knows he opens it frequently because he's _always_ the top person who views her story. Tessa is a very private person as well but if she uploads a random photo to instastory to convince herself that he's just as curious about her, well nobody has to know.

Once in a blue moon, he still posts a random faceless instastory and Tessa has to calm her heart (every time) before opening it. The first one was posted 8 hours ago, a stack of pancakes topped with banana slices arranged to form a smiley, his dorky thumbs-up in the right corner. Typical of Scott to cook so early on a saturday morning instead of sleeping in. The next photo is of his skates, tagged with his location and the current time. Now, Tessa kinds of feels guilty for lying around and not enjoying her last days as a college student. She continues watching all her other friends' instastories while debating if she should chat him up. Her phone pings and she realizes he beat her to it.

** Scott**: _Good morning sleepyhead. What are you doing today_?

While Tessa thinks of a "cool" response, he saves her by following it immediately with another message.

** Scott**: _I'm at the public rink right now near your dorm. You want to skate with me?_

** Tessa:** _Sure. I'll be there in 20 minutes._

Tessa braves the cold to see the one person she wants to see the most. During the walk to the rink, it just hit her how this is their last school year to be close together. And if she doesn't make a move now, she'll have to graduate without knowing how his lips feel on hers. Her older sister Jordan has always said that the possibility of finding a boyfriend in college is best represented as a pyramid, the first year being the bottom and the last year as the top. Leaving the university is even worse, entering a war pit with creepy bosses, incompetent co-workers, bar perverts eventually ending up with blind dates set up by friends who left college with their sweethearts.

Upon arriving at the rink, she waves at Scott who is lazily skating around with all the other students in heavy winter coats and immediately laces up her skates on the nearby bench. Tessa likes skating but can't do anything special beyond going forward. Scott takes her hand and tries to lead her into a hold position, dancing to the christmas carol blasted on the speakers but they end up laughing hysterically at how bad they are at this. In another world, they could have been the world's greatest ice dancers but today they just look like awkward teenagers barely moving on the ice who suddenly can't even look at each other when the music switched from Mariah Carey's _All I want from Christmas is You_ to Ed Sheeran's _Perfect_. Foregoing dancing on ice, they just continue slowly skating side by side trying to catch up by talking over the music.

She finds that they don't need to hold hands but she doesn't want to let go anyway. It grounds her and silences the anxiety in her heart about their lives going in different directions within 6 months.

They've known each other since they were kids so she doesn't understand why their time together still doesn't feel enough.  
The impending separation is making her reminisce, so she asks chuckling, "Remember in elementary? You used to hate me so much".

Scott winces a little and lets out a small laugh, "I didn't hate you!".

Tessa slaps his right bicep with her free hand which makes Scott laugh louder and practically shout while shaking his head,

"Because, why did you have to be always so much better than me? Even when I tried so hard, I just couldn't keep up with you, Miss Overachiever. It bugged me so much that this little girl beat me at everything". Tessa just shakes her head with a tight-lipped smile. She's heard this argument so many times already.

With a low voice, he continues,  
"That's why I was so happy in high school. We always studied together, you forced me to finish my projects, I edited your essays. We felt like the perfect team." He pauses to smile at her. 

"I don't know if you know this, but you truly inspired me to be a better student and a better man in general. You always did everything to your best capabilities while still remaining as the most humble person ever. I was still a little bit jealous that you were better than me but I channeled that competitive energy as the push to improve on myself".

He says it with so much softness and, at the same time, conviction in his voice, she can't find the appropriate response. Instead she squeezes his hand as a silent "me too" hoping he'd understand.

"My mom was more than thrilled that I even considered going to college because she thought I was choosing hockey over it. Meanwhile, my brothers kept teasing me that I was just doing it so I can follow you to Montreal after they found out you were going to the same school."

She's been on the receiving end of the Moir brother teasing so she gives him a pitying look before dissolving into laughter.

They fall into a comfortable silence while Justin Bieber's _Mistletoe_ plays over the background.

Tessa was never a sappy person and finds expressing her feelings in words more difficult than going backwards on her skates. But to barrel on with the conversation she speaks up again,

"It was a surprise but I'm actually so glad we ended up going to the same college. It would never have been this fun without you. I still can't believe that you made me go hiking at 2am one time just to see the sunrise, but it was worth it". She turned to see his reaction, a proud smile on his face. After climbing for 3 hours, they sat on a cliff shoulder to shoulder, while the sea of clouds changed colors from midnight blue to varying shades of pink and purple. It's one of Tessa's favorite photos in Scott's instagram.

"Sometimes my mind keeps fast forwarding to the future and I'm a little happy that I'll be finally experiencing a life without you.."  
Scott suddenly lets go of her hand and skates forward a little bit. He then circles back around to grab her hand and puts it on his heart, "What the hell Virtch?!? he says, with a faux hurt tone.

Tessa talks in between laughing, "You.. you didn't let me finish!" She pulls them to a stop and carefully skates to his front so she can face him saying,

"I'm happy but I'm mostly scared because I just realized that I don't know how to live a life without you. Like you've always been the adventurous one, how am I supposed to have fun when you're not there?". Scotts stares at her with shocked yet curious eyes, his breath puffing out in small clouds. It's a tad overwhelming so Tessa reflexively looks to the ice below while playing with her fingers.

"Um, I mean, I guess I'll miss you when we graduate", her voice a lot softer. "You've been one of the few postive constants in my life. And you said it yourself, we'll be too busy being adults with bills and jobs and stuff by then. And there's only like 6 months left. And just recently I realized that... I'll miss you."

She looks up to see him with a soft look on his face before he closes the distance and hugs her tight, the momentum moving them both backwards on the ice.

Then Scott whispers in her ear, "Aw kiddo, I'll miss you, too. More than you know." He pauses to take a deep breath. "You need to stop worrying about the future and just think of right now. Because I'm here for you and I'm not going anywhere. We still have time." She feels him smile when he kisses her hair. They take another big breath together and he says it again, "I'll _always_ be there for you."

He lets go of her a little and skates backward enough to look at her face. His eyes are twinkling and his face is full of love. It's the same look he gives her when she brings him a coffee to drink before a long drive. The same look when she hoards their time with Alma by suggesting a million plans for their new skating school. It's the same look he gave her when she brought him Kate's famous chicken soup when he was sick with the flu.

Seeing his eyes flicker to her lips for one second is all the sign Tessa needed to grab his face and kiss him hard. He was probably waiting for it because she felt him kiss her back immediately. Now she knows his lips feel warm and soft and perfect. And maybe a little chapped from the cold weather.

Realizing they were in a very public rink made Tessa pull back first, but thankfully Scott read her shy and wandering eyes and understood.

They continued skating hand in hand, giggling softly while sneaking glances at each other, until they reached the exit.

He brought his car and they decided to go grab dinner together. During the ride, Scott reached over the console to take Tessa's hand, intertwining it against his.

Tessa cheeks already hurt from trying to keep herself from smiling too much. A few minutes into the drive, she breaks the silence.

"Scott I lied before".

"What?!?"

"No, I mean way way before", quickly shaking her head. "Remember when you first admitted you had a crush on me 2 years ago? And I told everyone my real crush was my lit professor?"

"Professor Elon?" he says with a whine and raised eyebrow.

Tessa chuckles, "Wow I can't believe you remember his name. The point is I lied about having a crush on Prof. Elon. I actually had a crush on you since we were in our second year." She let out a deep breath because admitting this out loud is still equal parts terrifying and embarrassing.

"Anyway, I wanted you to know."

She feels him squeeze their joined hands. Tessa sneaks a glance at his face and relaxes when she sees him positively glowing.

"Thanks T. I'll tell you something more embarrassing, though. I've had a crush on you since we were in high school. It shouldn't be a surprise by now, I was following you around like a lost puppy back then. Honestly I felt bad we let the teasing make things awkward for us for a while but I'm so glad I could make it up to you now that we're older and wiser".

He brings her hand to his lips and leaves a soft kiss to the back of her hand. After a minute, he says, "And... I did know what college you were going to."

This time it was Tessa's turn to whip her head and gasp loudly, "What?!?"

She removes her hand from his hold to fold them over her chest. Scott is trying and failing to hide his guilty smile while running his now free right hand through his hair.

"But I wasn't stalking you, I swear. Kate told my mom. And my mom told me. Now that I think about it, I think she only told me because she believed you are the only reason I'd even consider college. But you're not. You weren't. Not the only one. I mean I didn't even knew I'd get in much less actually convince you to hang out with me."

Scott is rambling while Tessa is still giving him a glaring side-eye. 

He sighs and starts again calmly, "I wanted to go to college for myself and for the sport that I love. Thankfully, all that drive from high school got carried over and I wanted to learn more and strive higher". Scott held out his hand in the center with an open palm as a peace offering.

"The truth is, you still inspire to me better everyday. This school had a great program and that was the main reason. But getting to see you achieve your dreams by my side, even if it was only once or twice a month, was the tipping point in the scales of college options."

He groans jokingly, "How am _I _going to live without you? You've been the reason I've been working hard all this time." 

He pauses to give her a devilish smirk while wiggling his eyebrows "Maybe we'll just have to live together forever, eh?".

Tessa is blushing furiously yet she wants nothing more than to kiss him senseless in this moment. She settles on holding his hand again and rubbing her thumb over his fingers.

Maybe her last year in college is going to be special after all.


End file.
